Chief Thompson K Okorotie, OFR, is one of the founding fathers of Bayelsa State. He was a national vice chairman of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN, in the second republic and Majority Chief Whip in the old Rivers State House of Assembly. He also served as political adviser to the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. In this interview with TONY OLUTOMIWA, the elder statesman who is currently the Chairman of PDP’s Restoration Caucus speaks on issues shaping Saturday’s governorship election in the state. He noted the challenge of security, rigging and violence as democratic liabilities, adding that PDP was not only ready but will win the election.
Few days to the election, how ready is your party, PDP, for the electoral challenge?
You should be asking another party. PDP is over-ready. We have been ready long time ago. As far as I am concerned, by the special grace of God, we have won this election. Election should be based on the performance of a party in government. Elections should be determined by the number of people, voters who are willing to vote for a particular party. In this sense, PDP is the party of choice by most Bayelsans. And we have been ready in the sense that we have been working towards the election, starting from the pre-primaries to primaries proper, post primaries and we have been going round the state from LGA to LGA until we got to this grand finale rally. Even after this, we are going to go round to every ward, every community as we did in 2015. So we are ready, very ready.
A major issue ahead of this election is reconciliation by the party. How successful has been the reconciliation process?
Reconciliation has been a major activity by two separate committees that were set up by the party’s leadership. There is a special committee headed by Doukpola, of which I am a member. This one is a 7-man committee. Then another one headed by Senator Inatimi Spiff. Both committees have been working, identifying the problem areas, grievances of members and finding a way of addressing them. And most especially for the committee that I belong, we started with reconciliation after the primaries. Several people were aggrieved. Each person had issues with the conduct one way or the other. The primary itself was most transparent. So nobody could talk about it. But a few issues that came up were those of ad-hoc elections. We went into all that. And at the end of it all before we started campaigns round the state, we’ve achieved 95 percent reconciliation. One issue is that of those who left the party. But as they were leaving, some people were also coming from APC to join us. And therefore, I can say that the reconciliation has been quite well. You know reconciliation by my little experience is what you do till votes are taken. Even five minutes to start of voting, reconciliation is going on.
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But were you able to talk with Chief Timi Alaibe as a major member of the party who felt aggrieved?
Not directly. But we reached him through people. This was so because at the time we were to meet with him, he was not around. But we met with him face to face immediately after the primaries, particularly the ad-hoc ones when we approached every aspirant. We met with him. He told us his grievances and we addressed them. But it’s alright; he’s still in the party.
There have been allegations and counter-allegations of plans to rig the election. What would be your prescription to INEC as a way of curtailing the menace of rigging in this election?
When the INEC chairman visited the state to hold a meeting with stakeholders, we were there and I took part on the platform of elders of the state. And we presented our case. One of the important things we should do is to check intimidation by security forces on voters and INEC staff. That’s a very serious area. Because in some cases, they are in support of INEC officers, but in other cases they are acting against both INEC staff and voters. And there is nothing that diminishes the value of democracy than that, which tends to produce false results. In other words, there are many representatives that are not really representing the people because they came through the route of violence and ballot snatching. That’s why the relationship between the representatives and the people is experiencing a large disconnect. And these are areas we must look into for the good of the nation.
Let’s look at the issue of Nembe Bassambiri that has become so controversial. At a recent briefing, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, said the commission was helpless on the suggestion by some that there should be IDPs polling centres for those allegedly displaced from their homes in that locality. What’s the implication for democracy?
That’s the point we have been making because since the last election, there is a particular community that has created an IDP problem and that was what the chairman of the Elders Council mentioned at that stakeholders meeting with the INEC chairman that someone attempted to disrupt the meeting. If he says it’s beyond them, then it’s unfortunate. If it’s beyond them, is it the state government that will come in? Some of the things they did, they did it in the presence of policemen and security forces. They are even aware of the case. They are supposed to pursue it.
Could this be the reason why PDP hasn’t been able to go to Nembe to campaign?
We would go back to Nembe. When we were going to Brass, APC people attacked PDP people. That’s not how campaign should be. Like what the governor said, that place that we built at Ox-Bow Lake we are going to give APC to hold their campaign. That’s how it should be because it’s government money. There must be tolerance. When you get to government, you’re for all the people. Governor Dickson is not a man with a myopic mind, he’s open. It’s not today he’s doing it, even during the first campaign when President Buhari came here; he gave him the place and provided security. That’s how these things are done. But in a situation where APC leader is from a particular place and PDP people are attacked there, does it give him a good name? In a democracy, people should be allowed to market themselves all over. But we are going back to the place (Nembe). The security will make better arrangement and we will campaign there.
In a recent published statement credited to former President Goodluck Jonathan, he said he will never work for APC. But many were curious he did not attend the PDP grand finale rally. Is the former president and PDP in one accord for the election?
Yes, we are in one accord. You were there; explanations were given for his absence. The chairman of the PDP Campaign Council said he was sent by Jonathan. You know because of the very civilised way he handled his exit from government, they are looking for him all over the place for lectures, for handling of elections in other places. So he’s legitimately abroad and I can assure you we are together.
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Ahead of the election, do you harbour any fears? What do you think could go wrong?
It’s the security we are talking about. Those are the things that have been causing problems. When they avoid them, there will be peace.
The nation’s democracy is 20years. Are you satisfied about the progress we’ve made as a nation?
I am not satisfied. We have made some progress in the sense that we’ve been changing leadership through the ballot box. But the ballot box has not been properly secured. The ballot box has problems. It has the problem of secure key, has the problem of handling. It’s not being properly protected as a symbol of democracy. In terms of not allowing the army to come in as we frequently had, to that extent we have made some progress.
So looking ahead, what are the chances of the PDP in this election?
I told you we have won the election already.